Dr KARL SHUKER

Zoologist, media consultant, and science writer, Dr Karl Shuker is also one of the best known cryptozoologists in the world. Author of such seminal works as Mystery Cats of the World (1989), The Lost Ark: New and Rediscovered Animals of the 20th Century (1993; greatly expanded in 2012 as The Encyclopaedia of New and Rediscovered Animals), In Search of Prehistoric Survivors (1995), and more recently Extraordinary Animals Revisited (2007), Dr Shuker's Casebook (2008), Karl Shuker's Alien Zoo: From the Pages of Fortean Times (2010), Cats of Magic, Mythology, and Mystery (2012), and Mirabilis: A Carnival of Cryptozoology and Unnatural History (2013), his many fans have been badgering him to join the blogosphere for years. The CFZ Blog Network is proud to have finally persuaded him to do so.

Search This Blog

Loading...

Wednesday, 19 August 2009

SHAN HAI JIN - AN ANCIENT CHINESE WONDER BOOK

There are a number of highly significant tomes out there that have never attracted the degree of cryptozoological and zoomythological attention that they deserve. One such example is the Shan Hai Jin (or Jing) - a classic Chinese text at least 2,200 years old, roughly 31,000 words long, divided into 18 sections, and containing a wealth of information on all manner of extraordinary beasts. Although most are assuredly mythical, there could well be some genuine cryptids amongst them - the trick is deciding which is which.

To give you an idea of the scope of this remarkable book, the following mentions of entities referrred to in it are quoted from an extensive, highly informative communication that I received quite a while ago concerning the Shan Hai Jin (and also various other notable Chinese sources of info re mystery/legendary beasts) from one of my correspondents, Chinese-born S. Lu, now living in Washington, USA:

"Throughout the years I found so many, many, many parallels between the East and West myths and legends...For instance, the cockatrice's Chinese "cousin" described in Shan Hai Jin [SHJ] is the Suan Yu bird. It's like a snake with four wings, six eyes and three legs. If we picture it as having a bird's/rooster's head and talons, it'll look almost exactly like a cockatrice. The book also says that the Suan Yu bird's appearance foreshadows the coming of bad things.

"Shan Hai Jin is such a treasure with extensive knowledge of lots of things, it's a shame that many people keep a close mind toward the strange creatures and phenomena documented inside.

"There are accounts of mermaids (it's called Ling fish in SHJ), the kind that has human legs and arms with a fish/dolphin tail. I've seen depictions of this creature in the Arabian Nights when Sinbad was taken to an underwater palace by such a man or a merman.

"Europeans' view of the Indian people as dog-headed [cynocephali] is not completely out of the question. In SHJ yellow humanoid creatures with dogs' heads are described. Their name is Huan dog. There are also three-leg people, three-head people, egg-laying people, bird-body people (Siren?), one-foot people, snake-body people (Lamia?) [one such entity is the nuwa, as pictured here in this blog utilising an SHJ illustration], etc.

"Chinese centaurs have often been referred to as deities of some sort, they are horses or bulls with "human heads and hands". Chinese satyrs or pans are a people from the country of Dinling. Their upper bodies are like humans and lower parts are of the hairy horse legs with hooves, and they like to run. Water horses, the kind you talked about in Flying Toads and many other Western folklores, can also be found in SHJ...

"There are much more in other ancient texts in China that document similar things. One even says that the yerens [Chinese wildmen] are able to make themselves invisible and transform to dodge humans....

"There is a china.com [not any longer, sadly] that contains reports from Shen Nong Jia about yeren, albino animals, giant toad monsters, donkey-head wolves, rooster-crest snakes (my grandma told me her mother's story of how such a snake was found in a local "Tu Di" (earth god) temple in the rural Nanjing, Jiangsui Province, the snake didn't siss, but sounded like chicken, the locals thought it has a crest because it was old), unicorns (the website has personal stories of hunters [who] shot dead a couple of unicorns, they say the creature is not exactly a horse, nor a goat, nor a deer; in one account the single horn tilts/curls backward and another forward; they are very agile, and their meat was good; again the local people are sure that they are there), scarlet bats and hogs, etc.

"Have you heard about the famous 'Legend of the White Snake' about a white snake, accompanied by her friend or maid a green snake, transformed into a beautiful woman to marry a mortal, who saved her life a thousand years ago (reincarnation)? In Shen Nong Jia, scientists found that the rare white snakes are often seen to be with green snakes."

And this is just a taster of the treasures to be found inside this amazing work. Of all the subjects mentioned above, however, the one that possibly intrigues me the most received the least mention - scarlet bats. They're certainly new to me, so if there's anyone out there who has any info on Chinese scarlet bats, I'd be delighted to receive it.

8 comments:

Wish the book would be made available over here. I, for one, would have no compunction to shell out some money to get my hands on one. I love Bestiaries of all kinds. And I'm delighted to know Centaurs and Satyrs are not just confined to Mythological Greece.

Interesting that the yeren is claimed to be capable of invisibility,as Bigfoot is also supposed to do this.There are numerous accounts, mostly ignored until recently,including one where police seraching on the ground couldn't see a Biggie they were actually pointing their torches toward while the crew of a police helicopter with IR could see it plainly.Bigfoot researchers suggest they can generate infrasound :- perhaps this can prevent the observer's brain registering information from the eyes.

My name is Ali Niggeman and I'm the production assistant for the hitAmerican travel-adventure TV series, Destination Truth. The show is aSyfy Channel / NBC-Universal original series and we're preparing tofilm additional episodes for the 3rd season of our show. We'reactively seeking expert to assist us in our research. Each episode is a one-hour formatand features investigations of strange creatures, enduring mysteries,hauntings, or unexplained phenomenon in remote locations around theworld. This can include cryptozoological creatures, monster sightings,ghosts, curses, lost cities, etc. Our team investigates eyewitnessreports of such stories, interviews experts, conducts aninvestigation, and draws conclusions based on the evidence that wecollect.

We're looking for stories that fit a certain mold. We're looking forsightings and experiences that are contemporary, with recenteyewitnesses who can share vivid stories with our viewers (we don'twant to go looking for a creature that nobody has reported seeing inthe last hundred years....). We love things that are off the beatenpath (The Yeti in Nepal, a haunted mosque in the remote jungles ofMalaysia, the giant anaconda in Brazil, dinosaurs spotted in Papua NewGuinea, a cursed cave in Indonesia, The Mongolian Death Worm, etc.)

Now we need a few great stories and experts who can add credibility to our show.Further info can be sent at your request.

Shan Hai Jing , is, as far as I know, available in english in a couple of publications:

(translated by Anne Birrell) 'The Classic of Mountains and Seas', Penguin Classics, 1999. pbk 277pp with occassional illustrations. This one is I think out of print, but was available in USA on remainders recently. Translation is hard to penetrate for the ordinary reader, but the Notes [glossary] at the back is unrivalled; no index!

(translated by Richard E Strassberg) 'A Chinese Bestiary - strange creatures from the Guideways through Mountains and Seas', University of California Press, 2002. hbk 314pp. Has a complete illustration of one edition of this Chinese Classic. Not sure if this is still in print, but it was relatively expensive in AU$ at the time. Fantastic research and translation work; well worth an addition to your library. Comprehensive bibliography and index.

You will find answers here: http://www.humanpopulationacademy.org/ In short, scientists discovered the source of knowledge of human Nature and models of human psyche (or soul) - the ancient Chinese manuscript called Shan Hai Jing (Collection of the Mountains and Seas). It turned out that it holds descriptions of about 300 individual models/programs of human psyche. All information in Shan Hai Jing is recorded by the use of images. This breakthrough discovery was made by the SHJLab founded by Andrey Davydov and Olga Skorbatyuk. It does research based on Shan Hai Jing, and provides access to research results and intellectual products in the form of analytical informational materials. Human Population Academy educates people about this research, the laws of human Nature, the Catalog of Human Population (Catalog of Human Souls) and its source Shan Hai Jing.

ShukerNature Followers

Subscribe To

Contributors

DISCLAIMER

In Accordance with Title 17 USC Section 107, any copyright material on display here is under Fair Use without any claim of ownership or any profit accrued by the display. The Material herein is for non-profit educational or criticism puposes only. Notwithstanding the provisions of Sections 106 and 106a, the fair use of a copyrighted work including reproduction and distribution of said material as specified in that section, for purposes of education, news reporting, commentary or criticism, scholarship or research, to persons who have expressed a prior interest in receiving such material for such purposes, is NOT an infringement.

ATTRIBUTION

All original content on this blog is the exclusive copyright of Dr Karl Shuker, and must NOT be reproduced in any manner without his strict permission in writing.